Top 10 Bootlegs

A brief brief note on the sampling and statistical methods . . . . A bunch of Dylan fans of
various stripes were asked to supply a top 10 list. The Top Ten Bootlegs List was compiled
from the lists submitted. Ten points were assigned to each 1st place selection, nine points to
each 2nd place selection, and so forth. The point totals for each bootleg was then totalled
with mathematical rigor. The voting would have been rigged if required for Guitars
Kissing to come out on top -- but as things turned out it wasn't necessary.

Also included below are the individual lists of the respondents,
some of whom have requested to remain anonymous

Between a rather vicious Tell Me Mama (8) and I Don't
Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met) (9) the
harmonica begins and Dylan says, "This is called I Don't
Believe You. It used to be like that and now it goes like
this". He stamps his foot four times and the harmonica and
the Hawks "come in with the sort of immediacy you get from
tipping a whole table full of crockery and cutlery into the
sink all at once." - Paul Cable (1978).

Between Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (12) and One Too Many
Mornings (13) some of the audience follows the shouting with
slow hand clapping, Dylan mumbles into the microphone what
in retrospect are clearly nonsense words and syllables, the
clapping abates to catch the uncatchable words, and he
continues, "...if you only just wouldn't clap so hard.
[Cheers, clapping]"

Oldham Evening Chronicle - 25 May 1966: "So the knockers
are all stations go again. I am referring to the fantastic
performance given by Bob Dylan at the Free Trade Hall last
Tuesday night... I think Bob put his feelings over to the
knockers just great. When someone shouted out to him
'Judas!', he just calmly went to the microphone and quietly
drawled 'Ya liar'..."

Between Ballad Of A Thin Man (14) and Like A Rolling Stone
(15) lies this famous incident where a member of the audience
yells out "Judas!". Applause and other shouts ["...sing
Dylan songs?" and the like] are heard. Dylan responds, "I
don't believe you... You're a LIAR... [Robbie Robertson
says, "Quit talking Bob." but not audibly on the tape] Dylan
turns away from his mike to face the drummer Mickey Jones
and says, "Get fucking loud!" followed by a wall-of-sound
no-holds-barred crashing-cymbals rendition of Like A Rolling
Stone.

After Like A Rolling Stone (15) we hear a very Dylanesque
"Thank you." Hmmmm. Well some say he makes it sound more
like "Fuck you" but I can assure you the word is "Thank"
whatever the intention...

Probably the most interesting boot CD to ever surface,
because it was unexpected and because the quality is so
high. A complete one hour radio program in excellent
quality! The conversation and the songs are each given
individual track numbers so a CD player can be programmed to
play it as is, just songs, or just conversation. Very nice
touch indeed!

Jack Nissenson, an early admirer of Dylan had the foresight
to record this performance at the Finjan Club, Montreal, in
July 1962.

A decent copy of the Finjan Club tape, complete on CD, the
recording is continuous which gives the atmosphere of the
club rather well. This one is strikingly better then other
discs of the same material. [T-144/145, T-103, T-168/169, T-
170, T-322]

There is perhaps no better bootleg available then this
one. This could easily be a commercial release. The CD
provides the complete concert with the exception of the
opening lines of Talkin' World War III Blues (8). This is
one of the last recordings of a purely acoustic live Bob
Dylan concert...

[Now Ain't The Time For Your Tears (The Swingin' Pig, TSP-
CD-057, 1990, Matrix: TSPCD 057 03) was always criticised
because it was digitally 'no noised' so here it is free of
that undesirable process.]

8.Talking Too Much / Bob Dylan [12 April - 26 October 1963]
Live in New York, 1963
World Production Of Compact Music, WPOCM 0888 D 003-2, 1988
Made in Austria by Koch-Digitaldisc
Matrix: Made by Koch 032.033.000.032.8
[= vinyl boot LP: Are You Now or Have You Ever Been (TAKRL
1952 [1974])]

This CD corresponds to the unreleased 1963 live album
planned by Columbia: Bob Dylan In Concert (Col. CL-2302, CS-
9102). The boot is taken from the acetate produced for that
project.

[As the CD Bob Dylan In Concert (Capricorn Records, CR-2025,
1994) uses the cover of the unreleased 1963 live album
planned by Columbia: Bob Dylan In Concert (Col. CL-2302, CS-
9102) [062] you might expect it to be a CD of that album.
Especially as it uses those numbers -- Col. CL-2302 CS-9102-
- on the insert and on the spine. It is not!]

The Santa Monica (1-12) concert omits the fragment of The
Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll [11] but is otherwise a
complete copy of the incomplete circulating tape of the
concert. (Disc 2 of the 1965 Revisited [GDR9419] CD of the
concert includes it.) The authenticity of the recording is
stunning, but it is clearly an amateur recording with
tapers' interjections, splices, varying levels and more...

A record of the concert is wonderful to have, but as well
this must be the best tape for capturing the excitement of
the tapers too! It is difficult to make out all that they
say but we hear them during To Ramona (1) ([indecipherable
conspiratorial whispering] ...this is the actual recording,
...can you?); at the end of Gates Of Eden (2) (I can't tell
you, it's jumping [referring to the input level meter during
applause?], Hey man, this is fascinating.); It's Alright Ma
(I'm Only Bleeding) (4) (I want a flashlight darn it, one
look at a flashlight is all I need, I don't even know if
that's turned on yet, no, it is, you see what I... Jack, got
a match? Give me it. [and you can hear the matchbox]); Mr.
Tambourine Man (6) (These are all new songs.), the beginning
of Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (7) (Oh wow! Yay!!!),
before With God On Our Side (8) (What's he playin'?), It
Ain't Me Babe (10) ([indecipherable whispering]), It's All
Over Now, Baby Blue (12) (You wanna come backstage
afterwards? Jack's going backstage, so I guess you'll have
to. I'd be scared. You'd be scared? Are you kidding?
...backstage. Yeah... Gee I wonder if the songs are on the
record?). The audience is also alert and laughs in the right
places, they seem to catch every word and the songs are
fresh enough to surprise (If You Gotta Go, Go Now (3): "It's
just that I ain't got no watch, and you keep asking me what
time it is [audience laughter]" and many other points, they
clearly connect with the ribald thinly disguised excuses in
the song; It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) (4): That
somebody thinks, They really found you [taper laughs]; Love
Minus Zero/No Limit (5): "draw conclusions [pause] on the
wall [audience laughter]"); Don't Think Twice, It's All
Right (7): "Look out your window and I'll be gone [taper
laughs]"; It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (12) "The empty-
handed painter from your streets, Is drawing crazy patterns
on your sheets [audience laughter]. At the end of If You
Gotta Go, Go Now (3) Bob Dylan says, "That was called Gates
of Eden. [laughter at intentional wrong name] Taper: "Wish I
had a flashlight". Dylan: "This is called It's Alright Ma
(I'm Only Bleeding). Taper: "Oh! Yayyyyy!!!! We heard this
one on a show, you know." Dylan: It's Alright Ma (I'm Only
Bleeding), ho, ho ho. [audience laughter]." At the end of
that song he introduces the next with, "...this song is Love
Minus Zero, uh, slash, over No Limit, end of quote, it's
kind of like a painting, the title, painted in purple." And
the wildly overdone hamming of All I Really Want To Do (11)
gets a great audience reaction.

A nicely organized CD with two complete recordings of '61
Dylan tapes. The sound is very good overall, and better on
the East Orange cuts then the New York cuts.

Essential. Wise to have something early in order to
understand later Dylan...

Andrew Muir

Ooooh, top 10s eh? Irresisitible but almost impossible to do. Given that
this could change at any moment..here goes (is it OK to have "sets" as 1
choice) - in any case I have omitted 1965 Revisited as it seems to
hugely unfair to include. It would soar right up the chart.

But you see - I already want hundred of others and the only reason some
are not on there (e.g. GET LOUD!) is because something even better (e.g.
Guitars Kissing...) from the same period is around.

I also haven't included the HARD TO FIND or CRITIC's CHOICE series that
I love, or the wonderful ODDS & ENDS (kinda swallowed up in my forst 3
choices) or GOLDEN VANITY or anything from tours other than '66.....Ah,
it's just impossible. Still a nice start to the day.

ben@edlis.org

OK. I can only go by what CDs I own and I haven't bought any in maybe 2
years :-) Here goes:

Hmm, I don't really have a tenth to suggest. If I am nostalgic, I'd go
for "Manchester Prayer" but that has long since been superseded. If
forced, I guess I'd go for "Avignon '81" so you can put that one there
if you want.

Matthew Zuckerman

A top ten is tough! Doubly tough since all my stuff is in storage so it has
to be done by memory. Or maybe that makes it easier. Anyway, here's a list
of ten favourites. The Live in New York/Live in Newport pair have been
treated as one. This one is very hard to find nowadays, and It's Alright
could take their place (better sound but without Newport).

10.Live in New York 1964/ / Bob Dylan [31 October 1964]
Disc and front insert title: The Live Dylan
Document Records, DR 001 CD, 1987
Great Live Recordings
Matrix: PILZ CD DR-001-CD 12
(1-12) Philharmonic Hall, New York, New York, 31
October 1964 [Halloween] [075] For the last seven tracks of
this concert see Live In Newport 1965